Dries Vanthoor, driver of the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8, poses after winning the pole for the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway. Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images

Courtesy of IMSA News Wire

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – BMW M Team RLL rallied from a stalled start to earn pole position during qualifying Thursday for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, opening round of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 driven by Sheldon van der Linde caused a red flag when it stalled on-track less than five minutes into the 15-minute Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class qualifying session. But Dries Vanthoor saved the day as he drove the team’s No. 24 entry to the GTP and overall pole for Saturday’s 24-hour endurance test.

BMW was extremely competitive in the annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 test sessions, with Vanthoor setting fastest overall time. The 26-year-old Belgian, who is embarking upon his first full season of IMSA competition, repeated that form when it counted in qualifying.

It was Vanthoor’s first IMSA Motul Pole Award and also the first for BMW within GTP, as the manufacturer enters its third year in the new class. Because of the stoppage for the stalled No. 25 BMW, he and the other GTP contestants had time for only two flying laps. The younger Vanthoor brother (older brother Laurens is the endurance driver in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963) will share the pole-sitting No. 24 BMW with full-season co-driver Philipp Eng, Formula 1 veteran Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello.

“For sure it wasn’t easy with the red flag,” said Vanthoor, whose hot lap around the iconic 3.56-mile/12-turn Daytona International Speedway Road-Course was timed at 1-minute, 33.895-seconds/136.493 mph. “It makes tire warming a bit more difficult for everyone. That was a big struggle for us last year, but we have been improving a lot. Then it was just about getting the lap together and trying to do the best that I could. That worked out, luckily, so I am very happy.

“We’ve been working hard. It’s nice to see that it’s working for everyone here, and also everyone back at the factory. I think everybody can be happy and proud of that, but (the pole) is a little cherry on a big cake and there’s still a big thing still to happen. That’s the race, and that can go any way.”

Nick Yelloly qualified the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 on the outside of the front row in Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian’s return to IMSA competition after a year off at 1:34.186/136.071 mph. Defending GTP class champion Felipe Nasr was third in the No. 7 Penske Porsche at 1:34.280/135.935 mph.

Jack Aitken, driving the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, led the General Motors contingent with a best lap of 1-minute, 34.350-seconds to earn P4. Filipe Albuquerque recorded a best lap of 1:34.933 in the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing entry to place seventh, while Louis Deletraz claimed eighth at 1:34.935 in the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Prototype.

“It’s a pretty good place to start,” Aitken said. “We’re hopefully going to be in the mix in the front the start of the race. It was a bit of a weird session, very truncated and I didn’t get many laps in. I had to make that last lap count. The car felt really nice, so I think we’re in a solid position. We have a few more sessions to work on things and build a solid race car.”

Cadillac Racing is chasing its fifth victory since 2017 in the twice-around-the-clock classic. Cadillac has totaled 12 podium finishes, including its four overall victories, in the Rolex 24 since 2017.

Qualifying was staged in difficult, cold conditions, with wind chills at Daytona in the low 40s ambient, and track temperatures not much warmer. Vanthoor wore a heavy parka and ski cap when he met the media after qualifying.

“It’s a bit cold in the car, but when you come out you’re sweating a lot,” he said. “You can get sick easily, and that would be the last thing we need going into a 24-hour race.”

The field will take the green flag for the 63rd running of the event Saturday at 1:40 p.m. (EST). The race’s opening hour will be broadcast on NBC, then shift to USA Network for four hours before returning to NBC for the finish. Flag-to-flag coverage is available on Peacock.

United Autosports USA dominated Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class qualifying for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, with Daniel Goldburg and Nick Boulle securing first and third on the grid for the team co-owned by McLaren Formula 1 team principal Zak Brown and Richard Dean.

Goldburg secured his second career Motul Pole Award in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition, and first since Road America in August 2021 in the former Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class.

Additionally, Goldburg’s lap ended Ben Keating’s run of five consecutive poles achieved at the Rolex 24 through either traditional qualifying or the Motul Pole Award 100 qualifying race, which ran for two years. Bronze-rated drivers qualify in LMP2 and while Goldburg came close to pole several times in 2024, he wound up short with four second-place efforts and seven top-fives in as many races.

“This is our moment to stack-up against each other in the Bronze category,” Goldburg said after a pole-winning lap timed at 1-minute, 38.676-seconds/129.879 mph. “I’m super-excited. I’ve been chasing this pole for all of the last year and been a couple tenths off a bunch of times. That pole was elusive for me. So, this feels really good. I’ve been putting in a ton of work. It’s a long race ahead, but this is a great first notch.”

Goldburg is sharing the No. 22 ORECA LMP2 07 this week with Paul di Resta, Rasmus Lindh and 2023 LMP2 Rolex 24 winner James Allen. “I’ve got great teammates and have been able to compare a lot of great data,” Goldburg said. “I’m just inching closer and closer to what they do. After every session, I watch the video and chase the data and just trying to keep inching closer.”

Two-time IMSA LMP2 class champion Keating split his former team, United Autosports, in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 and will start on the outside of the front row.

Nick Boulle, who co-drove with Tom Dillmann to the IMSA LMP2 championship last year, will make his first start for United Autosports in the No. 2 ORECA from third place as he contests all Michelin Endurance Cup rounds of the WeatherTech Championship.

German sports car ace Mike Rockenfeller paced a Ford front row shutout, with “Rocky” claiming his first pole position in almost two decades Thursday during Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) qualifying for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Despite blustery, cool conditions and a slight rain mist, Rockenfeller turned a fast lap of 1-minute, 45.523-seconds/121.452 mph in the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3.

It was Rockenfeller’s second Motul Pole Award of his IMSA career, and first since 2006 in a Daytona Prototype at Homestead-Miami Speedway. His time Thursday around the iconic 3.56-mile DIS road course was 0.332-of a second faster than his Ford Multimatic teammate Frederic Vervisch, giving the “Blue Oval” a front row sweep for the 15-car GTD PRO class.

“This is the biggest race of the year and we want to make sure Ford is proud,” said Rockenfeller, who will share the cockpit with British driver Sebastian Priaulx and 2022 Daytona 500 winner, NASCAR Cup Series regular Austin Cindric. “It’s a super-talented field with many, many good drivers in this category so you really need to push hard.”

Rockenfeller said the Ford team _ competing in the OEM’s second year of fielding the Mustang GT3 _ focused on earning pole position, so the front row sweep was huge. He acknowledged, however, winning pole is very different from racing for 24 hours.

“It’s crazy-competitive and I would say more competitive from last year, for sure,” Rockenfeller said. “So it’s going to be tough, and we saw throughout the sessions we are clearly good for one lap but we struggle a bit more over a stint with our tire (degradation), so that’s something I’m a bit worried about. But keep the wheels turning, that’s the key _ at the end to be there.”

Speaking to the high competition in these production-based GT categories, Thursday afternoon’s qualifying session marked the first time this week the Fords topped the speed chart in GTD PRO.

Dan Harper in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO and Alexander Sims in the No. 3 Oshkosh/Mobil 1 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R were third and fourth quickest, respectively.

“First of all, low-fuel run here,” said Sims, who will share the No. 3 Corvette with Antonio Garcia and Dani Juncadella. “You’re getting a load of lap-time on the straights and the car is pretty alive. These conditions, it was really hard to switch the tire ‘on’ and I didn’t get it. It was just challenging to switch the tire ‘on’ compared to normal.

“The car was feeling nice. This Corvette is lovely. It’s great in loads of phases but it’s really exciting when you’re driving it on low fuel. We did the best with what we could in terms of the balance of the Corvette out there. (But) quite a big delta to the Fords. I can imagine where the lap-time is gained on that, but well done to those guys and we’re looking forward to the race. We’ll know more, honestly, 12, 14, 16 hours into the race. It seems like the car is working well, and that’s all you can ask for now.”

Harper and Sims were followed by Andrea Caldarelli in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, which paced the class in the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test last weekend.

Connor Zilisch, the 18-year-old NASCAR phenom and defending Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) Rolex 24 winner, was eighth-fastest _ less than a second off the GTD PRO class pole-sitter _ in the No. 91 Trackhouse by TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R. That Chevrolet entry features an all-star lineup of NASCAR Cup Series ace Shane van Gisbergen, INDYCAR’s Scott McLaughlin and former Rolex 24 class-winner Ben Keating.

Elliott Skeer claimed his first career Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) pole position with a flying lap of 1-minute, 46.634-seconds/120.187 mph in the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992). Skeer’s drive to P1 was just 0.018-seconds faster than defending GTD class champion Philip Ellis in the 2024 Rolex 24-winning No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Skeer and full-season co-driver Adam Adelson won their first IMSA WeatherTech Championship race at the 2024 TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks in Indianapolis, and Adelson swept the new Grand Touring Daytona X (GTDX) pair of IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge races in a similar Wright Porsche this past weekend.

This season the 15-car GTD PRO class and 22-car GTD class will be separated for the race’s start and all subsequent restarts in the twice-around-the-clock season-opener.

Behind Skeer and Ellis, Trent Hindman clocked in third in the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Last year’s GTD pole-sitter, Parker Thompson, will start fourth in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3. Franck Perera _ a past Rolex 24 GTD winner who led several practice sessions in last weekend’s Roar Before the 24 _ was fifth-fastest in the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

The top-15 GTD qualifiers were within one second of Skeer’s pole-winning Mercedes.

“Definitely with the new rules this year on splitting the GTD and GTD PRO will be interesting for us,” Skeer said. “It minimizes clean air, so we’ll be spending a lot more time in dirty air especially come restarts which we know there’s going to be a fair bit of it in this race.

“A clean air, out on your own, qualifying run is one thing. But then in the midst of what’s going to be an incredible battle throughout the day, that’s going to be a whole new thing. There’s still going to be so many things to learn, not just on the power side but battling in aero with some new drivers. There’s a lot to happen in a day’s worth of racing here.’’

NBC Sports will present more than 160 hours of IMSA coverage during 2025, headlined by the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship across NBC, Peacock and USA Network. The comprehensive programming will jump-start with live coverage of the historic 63^rd annual Rolex 24 at Daytona at Daytona International Speedway Saturday and Sunday.

NBC Sports’ 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule includes 17 hours on NBC broadcast network and 12 hours on USA Network cable _ including coverage of the Rolex 24, the race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in California on May 11, the Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 21 and the season-finale Petit Le Mans from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Oct. 11.

Peacock will serve as the streaming home of the WeatherTech Championship with flag-to-flag, live coverage of all races as well as exclusive coverage for portions of select endurance races _ including the Rolex 24, Six Hours of The Glen at historic Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International and Twelve Hours of Sebring in Florida, with all 12 hours exclusively on Peacock for the first time.

Peacock again will present live coverage of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, Ford Mustang Challenge and Porsche Carrera Cup races in 2025.

Here is NBC Sports’ 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule (all times Eastern):

Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 25-26 _ Rolex 24 at Daytona, Daytona International Speedway (NBC, USA Network, Peacock, 1:30 p.m.)

Saturday, March 15 _ Twelve Hours of Sebring, Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway (Peacock, 10 a.m.)

Saturday, April 12 _ Grand Prix of Long Beach, Long Beach Street Circuit (USA Network, Peacock, 5 p.m.)

Sunday, May 11 _ IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship of Monterey (Calif.), WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (NBC, Peacock, 3 p.m.)

Saturday, May 31 _ Detroit Grand Prix, Detroit Street Circuit (Peacock, 3:30 p.m.)

Sunday, June 22 _ Six Hours of The Glen, Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International Road-Course (NBC, Peacock, 12 p.m.)

Sunday, July 13 _ Chevrolet Grand Prix, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Bowmanville, Ontario (USA Network, Peacock, 2 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 3 _ Sports Car Weekend, Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis. (Peacock, 2 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 24 _ GT Challenge at VIR, Virginia International Raceway, Alton, Va. (USA Network, Peacock, 2 p.m.)

Sunday, Sept. 21 _ Battle on the Bricks, Indianapolis Motor Speedway (NBC, Peacock, 11:30 a.m.)

Saturday, Oct. 11 _ Petit Le Mans, Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Braselton, Ga. (NBC, Peacock, 12 p.m.)

Note _ Platforms and race start times are subject to change.